05-11-2019 JAZZ:MiX # 33 jazz tracks on the the JAZZ_line 2010-2000

05-11-2019 JAZZ:MiX # 33 jazz tracks on the the JAZZ_line 2010-2000 # Lonnie Smith, Portico Quartet, Todd Sickafoose, Charlie Hunter, Kazumi Watanabe New Electric Trio, Marcus Miller, Paul Motian, Two Banks of Four, Weather Report, Chuck Bergeron, Patricia Barber

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2010-2000

Virtuosic funk-jazz organist whose teaching career limited his recording output. Organist Lonnie Smith has often been confused with keyboardist/pianist Lonnie Liston Smith -- and, in fact, more than a few retailers have wrongly assumed that they're one and the same.
Dr. Lonnie Smith
Spiral 5:55
Mellow Mood (Jimmy Smith) 5:12
Frame for the Blues (Slide Hampton) 8:52
from Spiral 2010
Dr. Lonnie Smith shows no signs of slowing down. Spiral is is his fifth studio album since 2003, and his fourth for Palmetto. Produced by Matt Balitsaris, Smith's trio includes guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg and drummer Jamire Williams. The program is a solid set of jazz nuggets, an original, and a couple of ballad standards. Things lead off with Jimmy Smith's "Mellow Mood," which is relaxed but hardly what the title suggests. Smith is in prime soul-jazz mode here, paying tribute to his mentor by swinging hard on the melody. Another nice touch is the reading of Slide Hampton's "Frame for the Blues," a smoky, nocturnal slow burner that features a fine solo by Kreisberg...  Spiral puts the full range of Smith's powers as an interpreter and improviser on display. This grooving trio makes it all sound easy, though nothing could be further from the truth.

The Portico Quartet is a contemporary modern jazz and ethnic fusion ensemble from South London, England. Formed in 2005, the band was initially inspired to play via founding member Duncan Bellamy's purchase of an exotic yet contemporary instrument, the Hang, at a music festival. The Hang, invented in 2000 in Switzerland, is a metallic lap drum with clamped shells, the melodious sound of which resembles both a steel drum and Balinese metallaphone.
Portico Quartet
Paper Scissors Stone (Portico Quartet) 5:27
Isla (Portico Quartet) 5:09
The Visitor (Portico Quartet) 5:29
from Isla 2009
...One of the strengths of Isla is that the hangs aren't treated like exclamation marks; their particular attributes have become more fully integrated into the group sound. The basic Portico paradigm has hang players Nick Mulvey and Duncan Bellamy, who also plays kit drums, working in tandem with double bassist Milo Fitzpatrick to produce interconnecting layers of beats and melodic motifs. Some might call this "trance," but there's too much evolution going on to merit that generic description. Saxophonist and (less is more) loopist Jack Wyllie rides the waves, stating most of the themes and taking most of the formal solos... Melodies are attractive and catchy. Rhythms are insistent. Improvisation is to the fore. Isla is the nuts.

Bassist, bandleader, and composer Todd Sickafoose probably performs before his largest live audiences when backing alternative folk singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco, and he can be heard on such DiFranco CDs as 2005's Knuckle Down and 2006's Reprieve. Much of his musical career has been devoted to the avant-garde and creative jazz world, however, and he has garnered considerable acclaim as a jazz sideman as well as leader of his own Todd Sickafoose Group.
Todd Sickafoose
Future Flora (Todd Sickafoose) 6:26
Bye Bye Bees (Todd Sickafoose) 10:42
Paper Trombones (Todd Sickafoose) 6:58
from Tiny Resistors 2008
The inventive bassist/composer Todd Sickafoose has been plying his trade as a sideman while occasionally venturing forth as a bandleader in the progressive jazz world. With Tiny Resistors, he's hitting for a high average in presenting original music with a dramatic flair while playing not just the bass. Overdubbing keyboards, accordion, mallet instruments, and the electric bass guitar, he orchestrates charts with many layers for a large ensemble that features electric guitars, brass, and some woodwinds...  A walking-to-jogging pace, serious to whimsical, identifies "Future Flora" (great title!) as the amplified guitars of Adam Levy and Mike Gamble with Sickafoose on the Wurlitzer organ shush along with Allison Miller and the horns of trumpeter Shane Endsley and trombonist Alan Ferber in a 10/8 rhythm...  "Bye Bye Bees" and "Pianos of the Ninth Ward" include both Andrew Bird (violin) and Ani DiFranco (wordless vocals); the former nearly 11-minute track has a polyrhythmic base with handclapping, whistling, and song sounds in tandem with the horns, while the latter is a somber post-Katrina waltz with Sickafoose on piano, the guitars, and an electric ukulele from DiFranco...  A rustic old New Orleans blues rhythm centers the muted brass during "Paper Trombones," a bit dour and holding a mystery train-like aura, with the vibes and bass playing of the leader conducting the trip. A wonderfully spacious intro with minimalist bells, vibes, and celeste overdubs turns probing, moving forward into dense terrain on the title selection, with Miller's busy drumming as a fulcrum.

Greatly talented jazz guitarist whose remarkably fluent style is suited to styles from early bop to fusion. As a young guitarist growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Charlie Hunter was looking for a way to stand out in the '80s. His primary influences were jazz great Joe Pass and the fluid Tuck Andress (of the guitar/vocal duo Tuck & Patti), both six-string guitarists who were adept at blending bass notes into their standard guitar melodies to make themselves sound like two musicians at once. But Hunter wanted to take it one step further and set out to find an instrument on which he could simultaneously function as both a guitarist and a bassist.
Charlie Hunter
Lady! (Charlie Hunter) 5:52
Wizard Sleeve (Charlie Hunter) 5:06
from Mistico 2007
Despite lineup changes, Charlie Hunter's trio has always consisted of a sax player and a drummer in addition to Hunter's seven- or eight-string guitar heroics. After about a decade with that template, John Ellis added a bit of keyboard and melodica to his sax for Copperopolis, almost presciently setting the stage for Mistico. With Ellis moving on to concentrate on a solo career, Hunter decided to form a brand new trio, bringing in Simon Lott on drums and Erik Deutsch on keyboards. That's right: no sax. The varied keyboards vs. sax give the album a sound that's less overtly jazz than previous efforts, but Copperopolis also showcased Hunter and company in more of a rock mood and that trend continues on Mistico...  Mistico is another winner from a guy with an uncommonly consistent track record of quality releases. The Charlie Hunter Trio is dead. Long live the Charlie Hunter Trio.

An immensely gifted, technically adroit jazz fusion guitarist from Japan.
Kazumi Watanabe New Electric Trio
Emboss (Kazumi Watanabe) 4:46
Tiger Beam (Kazumi Watanabe) 5:03
Dragon's Secret (Kazumi Watanabe) 7:55
from Mo'Bop III 2006
...as on his first solo guitar album, 2003's Guitar Renaissance. That same year, he joined bassist Richard Bona and drummer Horacio "El Negro" Hernández in the New Electric Trio with 'Mo Bop. Also around this time, he celebrated 30 years as a guitarist with the Infinite Beyond suite, which was released on album in 2006...

Jazz fusion bassist who came to fame with Miles Davis in the 1980s and went on to a successful solo career.
Marcus Miller
La Villette feat. Lalah Hathaway (Lalah Hathaway / Marcus Miller) 5:54
Frankenstein (Edgar Winter) 6:33
Silver Rain feat. Eric Clapton (Eric Clapton / Kem / Joey Kibble / Marcus Miller / Bill Withers) 6:06
from Silver Rain 2005
Not too many musicians can cover Beethoven, Stevie Wonder and Duke Ellington with equal dexterity and inventiveness, but Marcus Miller can. On Silver Rain (Koch), the multi-instrumentalist covers a great deal of ground stylistically, but what firmly ties the tunes together is his familiar funk-rooted bass playing. Miller was influenced by a powerful Bob Marley performance when he wrote the reggae-inflected title track with Eric Clapton, and the lyrics were inspired by the Langston Hughes poem “In Time of Silver Rain.”...

One of the most subtle, spontaneous, and interactive drummers in jazz, equally important as the leader of stimulating bands and colorful sessions.
Paul Motian
Pithecanthropus Erectus (Charles Mingus) 7:06
Mumbo Jumbo (Paul Motian) 3:33
Balata (Steve Cardenas) 3:36
from Garden of Eden Rec. 2004 (2006)
Though recorded in 2004, the release of Garden of Eden marks the year in which drummer, composer, and bandleader Paul Motian turned 75. The Paul Motian Band is structured after his Electric Bebop Band from the 1990s. The group's unique approach to bebop is here -- particularly in the bookends of the set with Charles Mingus' "Pithecanthropus Erectus,"... This band contains three guitarists -- Steve Cardenas, Ben Monder, and Jakob Bro -- and a pair of saxophonists -- Chris Cheek and Tony Malaby -- with bassist Jerome Harris accompanying Motian. Through the continuing wonder of stereo reproduction, Motian guides us to the place where we know who's playing what in which channel, left, right, and center. And the magic begins. With the exception of the opening cut, everything here is short -- between two and five minutes. Though the music comes off as relaxed, somewhat gauzy and breezy; it nevertheless carries the pressure to deliver its various secrets in brief moments rather than long, drawn-out solos and engagements between players...

Two Banks of Four are Dilip Harris and Robert Gallagher. Erstwhile Senior Demus & Earl Zinger. They both live in London. They both are involved in various musical projects... They both have various names and have a label called red egyptian jazz.Though neither make jazz music, one has a photograph of himself on top of a train in india as the sun is rising...
Two Banks of Four
Two Miles Before Dawn 4:29
One Day 6:25
Three Street Worlds 5:44
from Three Street Worlds 2003
Taking inspiration from the radical, spiritual jazz of the late 60s & early 70s, and blending that with a downtempo smokers soundtrack, this amalgamation of renowned producers, DJ and current UK jazz talent goes along way to prove that having one foot in the past doesn't prevent progressive music making.
The assorted members of Two Banks of Four certainly have the historical credentials to move jazz & dancefusions forward. Messrs Gallagher, Demus & Valarie Ettienne have a combined history that include Galliano, The Brand New Heavies & The Young Disciples, and combine the jazz approach with a template that won't frighten ears used to clubbier sounds. Two Banks of Four may owe a small debt to the jazz & beats feel of 4 Hero, but only for opening a musical door - not providing a roadmap...

Weather Report started out as a jazz equivalent of what the rock world in 1970 was calling a "supergroup." But unlike most of the rock supergroups, this one not only kept going for a good 15 years, it more than lived up to its billing, practically defining the state of the jazz-rock art throughout almost all of its run. Weather Report also anticipated and contributed to the North American interest in world music rhythms and structures, prodded by keyboardist/co-founder Joe Zawinul...
Weather Report
Freezing Fire (Wayne Shorter) 8:13
Teen Town (Jaco Pastorius) 6:29
Black Market (Joe Zawinul) 9:26
Cigano (Wayne Shorter) 3:59
from Live and Unreleased 2002
...All of these are wonderful moments in a collection of tracks that has nothing whatsoever to apologize for and is a more than worthy addition to any fan's library. Ultimately, this still leaves room for Legacy to come up with a live Weather Report Box, perhaps documenting the Jaco years. Here's to hoping.

An identifiable criterion for a jazz musician is his/her musical personality. Bassist-composer Chuck Bergeron has a sustained personality on his instrument, which is seated on a high watermark of achievement. Seldom is the refinement of a spirited personality in philosophy, conception, sound, language, and execution without a rich experience profile. And Bergeron's is no exception, his work has been densely seeded and nurtured within a prized roster of high reputation players from the likes of Randy Brecker, Brian Lynch, and Adam Nussbaum to the big bands of Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, and John Fedchock-plus singers Joe Williams, Jon Hendricks and Kevin Mahogany. 
Chuck Bergeron
John Abercrombie - guitar, Charlie Pillow - Tenor, Mike Holober - Organ, Chuck Bergeron - Bass, Peter Erskine - Drums + Percussion, Rick Margitza - Tenor, John Hansen - Piano, Jon Wiken - Drums, Bob Moses - Drums, Jeff Busch - Percussion and Berimbau, Jay Thomas - Trumpet
The Rub 6:18
My Folks Song 5:14
Jay-Walk 5:23
from Cause And Effect 2001
Bergeron's broad adaptive and cross-pollinative abilities are well served, and his versatility is planted in varied traditions without getting swallowed by the diffusion of contexts or styles. And he has such a rich, warm round and alluring sound-it is extra special when he pulls a note and permits it to stretch and linger, underlining his caring sense of melody. Another attribute is his ownership of a great time feel. Note how he bides his time to develop his ideas in a thoughtful manner...
This CD illuminates Bergeron's attitude in serving the music. It reflects an appetizing artistic diet. In effect, the sum of the pieces of music produces a colorful swath of diverse sketches of Bergeron's inventive mixing of his own palette. Collapsing generic boundaries, he reveals vivid causal effects of his elastic, open viewpoint. This position is reinforced by his two earlier CDs as well. In common with them, this latest one also armed with the luster and simpatico of all the musicians deepens its validity relative to Bergeron's values. Utilizing their individual flavors to compliment one another in varying combinations, the band and CD take on an arch of surprises, earthy feelings, persuasions and imaginative treatments; and the musicians are plainly having a ball playing!

Barber performes in a cooly understated vocal style influenced as much by film noir as by Carmen McRae and Peggy Lee. Award-winning jazz pianist, singer, and songwriter Patricia Barber's unique style and unusual voice make her an easy artist to distinguish. Her playing and singing are almost iconoclastically inventive, inhabiting a terrain inside and outside a musical slipstream that exists between post-bop, pop, classical music, cabaret song, and avant-garde, while being performed -- in studio and on-stage -- with a smoky, dreamy, yet imposing, mercurial presence.

Patricia Barber 

Bye Bye Blackbird (Mort Dixon / Ray Henderson) 4:03

All or Nothing at All (Arthur Altman / Jack Lawrence) 3:25

A Man & A Woman (Pierre Barouh / Jerry Keller / Francis Lai) 4:19

from Nightclub 2000

Chicago native and classically trained pianist Patricia Barber's sixth album is a collection of downtempo standards, perfect for a rainy day... Her production is spare, allowing her to sing with such melancholy it's almost eerie. Not many performers can relay such harrowing feeling without over-emoting, but Barber makes it seem effortless. Nightclub is an appropriate title; listening to these love songs is like being in a smoky room, courted by a lounge singer. This is a classy, solid effort.